²⁷ Then they gave their report: “We entered the land to which you sent us. It’s actually full of milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ There are, however, powerful people who live in the land. The cities have huge fortifications. And we even saw the descendants of the Anakites there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the land of the arid southern plain; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ Now Caleb calmed the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of it, because we are more than able to do it.”

³¹ But the men who went up with him said, “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we.” ³² They started a rumor about the land that they had explored, telling the Israelites, “The land that we crossed over to explore is a land that devours its residents. All the people we saw in it are huge men. ³³ We saw there the Nephilim (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and that’s how we appeared to them.”

The Israelites’ complaint

14 The entire community raised their voice and the people wept that night. ² All the Israelites criticized Moses and Aaron. The entire community said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt or if only we had died in this desert! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken by force. Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”